Vol. 506 No. 5
209 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons who applied for entry to the Garda Síochána in 1994; the number of groups established; the number of groups from which applicants were called; the number of groups and the total number of applicants from these groups who were not called for recruitment; and the reason they were not called. [15727/99]
Recruitment to the Garda Síochána is by open competition conducted by the Civil Service Commission. I am informed by that office that the 1994 Garda recruitment competition attracted an applicant population of 15,202 and 11,091 persons sat the written examin ation. Of this number 6,269 candidates reached the qualifying standard and based on performance at the written tests were placed in one of 21 groups.
All but two of the groups were called for interview. A total of 590 candidates, placed in groups 20 and 21, were not invited to attend for interview. In accordance with normal practice the 1994 competition was deemed closed when qualified candidates in the 1997 competition became available for interview.
